Mia's Holiday Adventures - The Finale

So my very first holiday has come to an end and I am now safely tucked up in the comfort of my own cot in my own home. Yesterday was a great day, we started off with a trip to Henley beach but it was way too cold to go swimming, I wasn't even upset when mum said it was too cold, I was nice and cosy in my pram. Of course we stopped for mum to have her daily caffeine fix, I am starting to see a correlation here between the number of times I wake up at night and the number of coffees mum has the next day. I was then hurried back to the hotel for a nap so that I could be on my best behaviour for the afternoons viewing of the tour down under final stage. We spent the afternoon watching the cyclists race through the streets of Adelaide, well I watched a little but mostly just snoozed in my pram, one of the best perks of being a baby is having your masters push you around everywhere. During the times that I was awake I turned on the charm and made lots of friends with other spectators, one old lady was even so nice that she gave me a bell to use to cheer on the cyclists, strangely enough my parents seem to have conveniently misplaced this very loud bell.

The highlight of my day though was definitely my luxurious spa bath in the kitchen sink of the hotel, after 3 nights of crying in the bath my parents decided on a new strategy and bathed me in the kitchen sink, it was awesome, I could see the TV and it was the perfect size for me so I kicked back and enjoyed it.

After I had gone to bed my parents sneakily had some ice cream which upset me greatly so I decided that I would wake and cry on the hour until mum gave in and got up and fed me, see I told you boobies fix everything!

I was again rudely awoken at some ridiculous hour of the morning so that we could drive home as quick as possible, with my parents hoping that I would sleep most of the car trip.  This time it was mum that was in spy mode, scooping me up from the porta cot and carrying me carefully down to the hotels basement, but I was on to them this time and it took the vacuum cleaner blaring out the car stereo before I finally fell asleep. I was actually on good behaviour today, no poonamis in the car, I snoozed a lot and I only got cranky as we got close to home. 

I enjoyed my first holiday but I am very happy to be back home with my toys and in my own cot, I think next time we go away I'll request the big bed and the parents can try sleeping in the porta cot and see how they like that stupid thing.

Mia's Holiday Adventures - Day 3

Another poor nights sleep in the porta cot, this time my parents parked my cot in the hallway next to the front door so that I was away from their room, that was such great parenting, umm hello if someone broke in they would grab me first. 

Again my day began with a trip in the car, luckily only a short trip to some waterfalls, I really wanted to go for a swim but apparently the water was too cold for babies. On the stroll to the waterfalls I managed a decent spew all down the front of me and onto dads foot, he wondered why suddenly his foot felt warm. I posed for some photos, of course with my tongue sticking out, that is my signature pose if you haven't worked it out by now.

In the car again, seriously, as if we haven't already done enough driving This time I decided to just oblige and take a nap, that was until they stupidly stopped the car 20mins from our destination and I of course woke up grumpy.  It was definitely pay back time, it was time for a poonami, mum was the first to smell it but they didn't stop to change me, just kept driving, bad move! Arrived at 'the shack' which was really nothing like my Pa Mick's shack, dad got me out of the car and soon realised that I was covered in poo! But don't worry about me, they were more concerned about whether there was poo on the precious car seat. I really had done a very good job of the poonami, not only was it a stinker but it had leaked out both the sides of my nappy as well as up the front and the back, a complete outfit change was required, more washing for mummy!

Finally I was having a fun day though, I got to eat food, roll around on the grass, terrorise a puppy and go for a ride in a boat.  I wanted to try water skiing but again the parentals said something about me being too small, will I ever be big enough to have some real fun? I said I could just barefoot it but they thought that was a silly idea.

Of course the day would not quite be complete without a melt down on the drive back to the hotel, I waited until we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic before making it well known that I did not want to be in the car.  First dad climbed into the back seat but I still cried, then mum got out of the car and swapped with dad, I just cried harder. Mum gave up and did something very naughty, she took me out of my car seat and fed me (we were stopped in traffic) I instantly stopped crying, boobies will always fix everything. Luckily we didn't get caught by the police though, I didn't want a criminal record before I turn 1.

Mia's Holiday Adventures - Day 2

A bit weary this morning, am hoping that mum has a coffee before she feeds me so that I can get my caffeine fix for the day, I was tossing and turning in that uncomfortable porta cot all night, but don't worry, I made enough noise to also ensure that mum was kept awake too. She'll definitely be needing coffee today!

After my morning nap I get dragged back to the car, oh no not another long car journey.  I protested as loud as I could to make it known that I was not going to co-operate in the car today.  Lucky for me (and for my parents) it was just a short car ride and we were at the beach, I'd never been to the beach before I couldn't wait to roll around and eat some sand.  Unfortunately my parents had different plans for the day, we weren't at the beach for me to play we were here to watch the start of the tour down under stage, boring, think I'll just snooze through this part of the day. Upon waking I thought they would for sure let me eat some sand, but no, they took me down to the beach just to take photos of me. So I still haven't really been to the beach even though my parents photos say otherwise.

I soon realise this day is not about me at all as before I know it we are lunching with some of dads friends, I see 4 plates of food arrive at the table, umm am I invisible here? No I don't want the cucumber off your plates I want my own plate of tasty food or even some milk would do. 

Mum decides I need a proper sleep so we are off back to the hotel but dad has another much more fun idea and we're now off to the pub! Mum forces me to nap by squeezing me into that stupid pouch thing she wears, I feel like I'm a baby kangaroo, it's so hot in here. After my nap I turn up the dial on my cuteness and suddenly everyone in the pub turns their attention to me rather than the TVs showing the tennis and cycling, I don't understand why no one would let me drink a glass of the stuff dad was drinking though?

Mia's Holiday Adventures - Day 1

Mum said my guest blogging this week was so popular that she's let me have another turn!! I'd like to share with you my first holiday adventure.

Day 1

I was deep asleep (well not really I'd been tossing and turning all night because it was so hot) when the door to my room opened and someone snuck in. I though I was being baby napped or starring in Taken 4 but it was ok, just dad! I was whisked out of my cot and straight into the car, very odd as it was the middle of the night. We drove for what felt like forever, but I guess for a 5 month old a day is a very large percentage of my very short life so of course it feels like forever.  

After about 6 hours I was completely over this car ride, I decided it was time to get back at my parents and do a poonami in the brand new car seat, have been saving one up for a few days. After I had filled my nappy I of course didn't want to be sitting in it so I started protesting, my parents kept shushing me telling me to go to sleep, finally they realised that a stench was wafting through the car and then the panick in their voices with mum asking dad if he'd put the nappy on tight enough, turns out he did so the parents won this time and the car seat survives another day. They were then so desperate for me to sleep that they blasted the damn vacuum cleaner noise through the stereo, I hope they realise that I will never be able to vacuum a house without falling asleep.

Upon finally arriving in Adelaide I was keen to check out the Tour Down Under, I was hoping my parents would take me to the expo so that I could get a bike and join in, but no such luck, they are such party poopers. They wouldn't even let me share in the driving for our mammoth car trip, said something about me being too little and not able to reach the peddles.

Blog by Baby - Final Instalment

So it's now the end of the day and I'm being sneaky writing this from my cot when I'm supposed to be sleeping, it's okay, as long as I'm quiet they'll think I'm asleep. So a lot has happened in my day since I finished the 2nd installment of my blog.

Mum took me down to the garage which means one of 2 things, car ride or the pram. The door to the car opens and I'm being put into my capsule, it's a good thing this seat has a 3 point safety harness, mum likes to think she is a bit of a rally car driver. I soon realise that we are in for a long drive so I figure I may as well kick back and relax and have a bit of a snooze, as soon as mum gets off the freeway my eyes are open wide and I realise that time is running out for my poonami, best get onto it, I know how much mum loves it when I poo in the car seat.  Ah there I go, that feels better!

She stops the car and puts me in the boot to change my stinky nappy, what a shame, she put the nappy on well and there was no leakage today. Oh well there is always next time. We're at a park and I see all the big kids running around on the playground, I try jumping off mums lap to join them but she won't let me, she's such a party pooper. She leaves me alone for a minute with her Aunty Wendy and I try to escape from the pram, have never seen someone jump up so quickly to get me!

Mum comes back and she gives me this stick of green stuff to chew on, it's not all that tasty but it is better than chewing on my hand so I gnaw on it for awhile before playing the really fun game of dropping it so that mummy can pick it up and give it back to me. After awhile I am bored so I start to make my grunting noises, I know how much mum hates it when I make these noises, especially when out in public, I continue making them until I'm safely back in the car. Hehe I got my own way, home time!! 

I snooze again on the return home but I always know to wake up just before we get home when mum is stuck at the railway crossing. At this point I start to cry as I know this means mum will sing 'Old MacDonald' to me, she thinks I love this song but really I just love her making a fool of herself making silly farm animal noises.

Suddenly I'm back on my playmat but I think I'm feeling in a needy mood this afternoon so I cry until mum comes to pick me up. She thinks that I'm hungry (but I'm not) so she feeds me and then she thinks that I'm tired, but I'm not (ok really I am I'm just going to refuse to nap though). Back in the cot, but there is no way that I am sleeping, she tries to pat me to sleep for ages and then finally gives up, yay I win again!

Daddy is now home which means mummy palms me off to him for playtime, but daddy has jobs on so he takes me down to the garage and I get to help him instal my new car seat. It's oh so comfy and so very clean, can't wait to spew and poo in this seat, I bet this will make mum and dad really happy.

Dinner time is so much fun, I sit in my high chair and mum gives me some food to play with, it's great I get to make a mess and throw things on the floor and watch mum and dad pick them up for me, I will never tire of this game, but I bet they will! 

Bath time comes next which means it's getting closer to bed time so time to start really playing up. I grizzle in the bath so daddy gets me out, mummy tries to dry me and get me in my pj's but I sook for her too so she starts singing Old MacDonald to me, I laugh at her silly farm animal noises and wriggle around as much as possible making it so hard for her to get me dressed. Mum feeds me and I'm almost asleep but as soon as she puts me in the cot I open my eyes wide and drop the bottom lip, she's tried to put me to bed without my goodnight story. I'm allowed up again and we snuggle in the chair reading some stupid book about a cat in a hat, the pictures are no fun at all but mum seems to like reading it and I pretend to enjoy as it means delaying my bed time.

Finally in bed and I decide to play nice, I give mum a big smile as she tucks me in and I don't even try to cry as she leaves the room. I'll save the trouble for tomorrow night when daddy is in charge!

Blog by Baby - 2nd Instalment

It's now 9am and I'm awake for the 2nd time this morning. Mum comes in to rescue me from my straight jacket and I give her some really cute super big smiles, she must think this is really cute because she runs off to get the camera so she can take photos of me. Sometimes I think I must be a celebrity with how often she takes photos. 

She gives me a big kiss and she smells like coffee, I don't know why she drinks that stuff, it stinks but she says something about coffee helping her get through the day.

Mum takes me into her room and let's me roll around on the bed whilst she gets dressed, funny how her bed doesn't resemble a prison. We then play a game where we pull funny faces at these people that look at us from the wardrobe door, these people look a lot like mummy and me, not quite sure who they are or what they are doing in my house.

I wonder what we will do today, every day is a surprise in my house. I get another feed, a little play on my mat where I chat loudly to my toys, do a few more spews, just to keep mum on her toes. Nappy change time again and mummy says 'no poo, just a wet one', that's right mum, I'm saving my poo's for next time we have to go in the car. She starts dressing me in a cute outfit and puts a cape on me (I think she calls it a bib) this must mean we're going somewhere, woohoo! Hopefully we are going somewhere in the car, it's been awhile since I did a nappy explosion and I'm feeling in the mood to really test out mum's patience today. 

Gotta run, we're on the move, I'll update you later on the rest of my day...

Guest Blogger - Blog by Baby!

Mia asked if it would be okay for her to be my guest blogger for the day, seeing as she asked so politely of course I had to say yes!

A day in the life of a 5 month old baby - by me (baby Mia)

Every day starts in exactly the same way, I wake up in this thing my mum calls a cot, I liken it to a prison as it has high bars ensuring that I cannot escape (well not for now anyway, just wait). I look around my room and stare at the camera attached to my cot, yes I know that big brother (aka mum) is watching me as I sleep. But I have them fooled, if I roll all the way down to the end of the cot and lie sideways then the camera can't see me and I have them fooled! Dad panicked a little the first time I did this!

Mum comes in at 6.15am on the dot (you could set your watch by her) and I give her a cute smile, after all she is my food source and I'm pretty hungry so I don't want to upset her just yet. She unzips me from my straight jacket and I'm free, finally can get my feet into my mouth again, these things are so tasty. Mum picks me up and gives me big cuddles and starts babbling on about something, I start sucking on her neck hoping she'll get the picture that I'm starving, stop messing around and feed me already. Mum takes me to the couch and assumes the feeding position, I make some grunting noises to express my impatience and finally the boob is out and I have milk. I'm pretty hungry so for the next 15mins or so I guzzle down my brekky whilst trying to put my hand in mums mouth.

After brekky mum always talks baby talk to me, I don't know why she feels the need to speak like this to me, I am smarter than the average baby, I do understand adult talk. She asks me to give her a kiss so I plant a big sloppy one on her cheek, she loves it when I do this, it puts a huge smile on her face. Then we're off back to my bedroom for a nappy change, it's about time, I've been in this wet thing all night. I like to make the nappy change process as difficult as possible, I bend my legs when she wants them straight and then straighten them when she wants them bent and of course I have to try to eat both of my feet at the same time.

Jobs are now done which means playtime for Mia! Yay, time to terrorise the toys on my playmat. I roll around attacking my toys whilst mum is talking to me from the kitchen as she makes her brekky. She turns her back on my for one minute so I decide to play a new game called 'Hide & Seek' I roll under the couch and decide that whilst I'm under here I'll spew up half of my milk and then roll around in it. Mum comes back over and finds me playing in my spew, I can tell she's not happy with me as she cleans both me and the floor, but she keeps smiling at me anyway.

We're on the move back to my bedroom and mum changes me into a nice fluffy clean jumpsuit, I wait until she's finished doing up all the little buttons and then I spew up some more brekky. This time she just gets a cloth and wipes it off though, what a shame, I was hoping for 3 ruined outfits before 7am. She says something about today being a long day which confuses me as I'm pretty sure all days are the same length. I wait until she turns her back and then I grab her phone and shoot off a text message to Pa Mick, he loves it when I send him texts and he things I'm pretty clever that I know how to use a phone (ok secret is out Pa, I don't really send them silly! Mum sends them pretending to be me). 

Mum gets a book out and starts reading to me, uh oh, I know what this means, it must be soon be time to be back in the straight jacket and into the cot, maybe if I'm really attentive and be really good whilst mum reads to me then she'll let me stay up. No such luck, the book is finished and it's back to bed for me, I behave and go to bed smiling at mummy, I used to protest a little but I soon learnt that even if I protest she still makes me go to sleep so I may as well just go to sleep quietly, after all the quicker I go to sleep the quicker I can get back up and terrorise my toys again.

To be continued after my nap...

Advice, the useful and the not so useful!

BAnnouncing a pregnancy to the world is like sending out an invitation asking for advice, however you didn't ask for any advice yet everyone seems to provide it to you anyway.  Some of this advice is useful and you are grateful for receiving it, other advice you just listen to and politely nod, thanking the person for this completely useless advice. The advice doesn't stop once you've had the baby either, in fact people suddenly feel the need to offer you more advice, everyone has an opinion as to how you should be raising your child because of course anyone that has already had a child is suddenly the expert in babies!

The most useful advice received

1. Approach child birth like a triathlon, go into it with a race day plan but be prepared to change this plan at the last minute should the conditions not be what you had expected (thanks Jacqui).

Extremely useful advice for any pregnant ladies! There is no point spending hours on a detailed birth plan, sure know what you feel strongly about and share this with the birth team but on the day be prepared to change your plan should you need to, at the end of the day all you will care about is ensuring the safe arrival of your precious baby.

2. The best advice I received whilst pregnant was from an eccentric dentist who was the father of 4 children.  He said to me "don't listen to anyone's advice on raising a child and don't compare your child to any other as all children are different". How very true! I have taken to raising my daughter the same way I would approach a problem solving exercise, I use trial and error! I certainly do listen to the advice of others but as all babies are different what works for one won't necessarily work for another. 

3. There is no need to sterilise bottles used for expressed milk (advice from a midwife in the early days). This advice early on has probably saved me countless hours of time sterilising everything.

4. "You will be a great mum, not because you will always know what to do but because you will always figure it out". Awesome advice from my best friend and so very true. It's been a huge learning curve since bub came along and she certainly didn't come with an instruction manual but somehow you do just figure it out! Words of encouragement such as these always go a lot further than unwanted advice!

5. Make the cot up with a mattress protector and a sheet, followed by another mattress protector and a sheet. That way if during the night there is a mess and you need to change the sheets you can just rip off the top layer and you have a ready made cot underneath. A very handy tip from an experienced mum!

The not so useful advice

1. Sleep when the baby sleeps, everyone loves to provide this advice to new mums, but how do you sleep when the baby sleeps when you have a baby that likes to take cat naps during the day and you never know how long they will sleep for. Not sure about everyone else but I can't just will myself to go to sleep at any time of the day, by the time I lie down and unwind it can often take awhile to actually fall asleep and by that time the baby is probably about to wake up. Also if I sleep when the baby sleeps then when does the housework and other tasks get completed??

2. When seeing baby sucking on hand "She must be teething". When baby is crying "She must have wind". When having baby standing up "Don't do that, it's bad for their legs". All of the comments you receive because as a new mum you of course mustn't have any clue about your own baby.

3. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. This advice doesn't go down so well with me, as I always strive to be the best at what I do and motherhood is no exception to this, in fact with motherhood I put even more pressure on myself as this is the most important job I will ever have in life. I want to be the best mum I can possibly be and raise my little girl to be the best woman she can possibly be.

Returning to work

I have always been a very career driven person and have worked hard to get to where I am with my career. Before having Mia I thought that I'd be bored staying at home with a baby and wanting to return to work as soon as possible, how wrong was I! Whilst I don't think I could ever be a full time stay at home mum (I admire those that are - it's not an easy job) the thought of returning to work and leaving my little girl in childcare brings a tear to my eye, actually I lie, the thought of it makes me cry, full on sobs that require tissues! Sure I am looking forward to returning to work for the mental stimulation and the adult interaction and so that I can regain some of 'me' again. But I am not looking forward to someone else caring for my daughter, comforting her when she is upset, being there to witness any first milestones that I am missing out on (crying again even as I write this - keeping Kleenex in business!). I want to be the one who puts her down for naps giving her a kiss before she goes to sleep, I want to hold her in my arms and hug her when she is upset and I want to see her crawl for the first time and take those precious first steps, I want to be there and show her how proud her mummy is of her.

I worry that we won't have the strong mother daughter bond that I so long for with her because I've left her in the care of others. Yet at the same time I want her to grow up and see me as a role model, someone that she aspires to be, someone that has been able to balance a career with family.  I don't want her to grow up with memories of mum never being there for her because she was always at work. I also wonder about whether the stresses of work will impact on the precious time that I do get to spend with her.

I worry also about my career and whether I will be focused enough to deliver the same results I have always delivered in the past or will I be too preoccupied with thinking about my baby girl. I've always been the person that somehow manages to do everything, those that know me well know that I am not one to ever sit still. I'm always doing something and often doing multiple things at once, however can you truly be successful at everything when trying to do too much? I've always thought, sure I can do it all and I'm sure that I can, the question is how well will I do it all? I also don't like to do things in halves so of course I want to be employee of the year and at the same time super mum. I don't want people at work to think I've dropped the ball since becoming a mum yet at the same time I want to be the super mum that bakes and makes homemade play dough!

I look back at times in my life where I have tried to take on the world, for this certainly isn't the first time I've juggled many things at once. In high school I was determined to achieve the best VCE results possible whilst working part time and competing in athletics and swimming. During university I again was determined to achieve the best results I could whilst juggling 3 part time jobs. As I started my career I decided it was also the perfect time to pursue my dream of triathlon whilst also completing my CPA, and in more recent years I juggled a career whilst training for an ironman. As I reflect upon each of these times I realise that in all of these instances I did manage to achieve everything that I set out to achieve, however in each of these instances I had always prioritised and there was always one thing that was the most important at the time. You can work hard to juggle everything but at the end of the day you still need to be able to prioritise, something always has to be number one priority, it doesn't mean that you can't still do well at everything else but you need to be clear in your mind what that number one priority is, the one thing you won't compromise on, for me now that is my role as a mum.

As my return to work is now only a matter of weeks away I take comfort in understanding my own ability and knowing what I am capable of. I am an extremely driven and determined woman and I will attack my career with the same level of determination and enthusiasm that I have always shown, yet this time it won't be my number one priority. My little girl will forever now be number one and if that means having to make compromises along the way then so be it. I'm never going to look back and wish that I had have worked harder at my career but if I let my career be my number one focus I will one day look back and regret not being the best mum to my daughter.

What was harder? Childbirth or completing and Ironman?

Some time ago I blogged an entry contemplating which would be harder, having a baby or completing an Ironman distance triathlon. I am now able to look back and compare the two (disclaimer: this is a representation of my own personal experiences so don't take any advice from this. Individual experiences may vary greatly!!)

The training & preparation for the big event.

I definitely preferred training for an ironman rather than the 9 months of pregnancy! Whilst training for Ironman I was the fittest I had ever been, I looked good in my bathers at swim training and had a tan for the first time in my life, even if it did come with the terrible tan lines that only a cyclist manages to achieve. I could eat as many carbs and as much icecream as I wanted as I was burning so many calories in training. 

I hated my 9 months of pregnancy, the only enjoyment was knowing that at the end I was going to meet my beautiful baby girl and I did also love every time I got a sneak peak of her at the ultrasounds. Otherwise my pregnancy was not much fun at all, I constantly felt queasy and at times actually vomited (especially in the last trimester) I craved lots and lots of carbs but eating them was making me gain weight rapidly, I attempted swimming to try to keep a little active but looked like a beached whale in my bathers. I gained so much weight that it hurt to even walk in the end!

The big day!

The ironman race had a specific day with a specific start time, in the lead up I was anxious and nervous but felt prepared as I had trained hard. The event itself was tougher than I expected and by the last 10km of the run every little step was a massive effort but I always knew exactly how much further I had to run.

Whilst there is a due date for babies to be born on it is not very often that they actually arrive on this date and I was no exception with my little miss deciding she was far too comfy in her warm little home and arrived 8 days late. In the days leading up to my due date I was nervous, anxious and extremely impatient, I was over being pregnant and wanted more than anything to meet my little girl and hold her in my arms. I had no idea what to expect with labour so in the days leading up to the birth every time I felt a pain I thought that I could be in labour.  After a few false alarms and many acupuncture treatments I was finally in labour, I don't know when it exactly started and I had no idea how long it was going to go for. When I initially went to the hospital they told me that I was only a couple of cm dilated so I should just go home. I went home for a little while before starting to feel a lot of pain and headed back to the hospital. I had no idea how many more hours I was likely to endure this pain for and to be honest I didn't think I could keep this up for hours and hours as the pain was intense. After about an hour at the hospital they finally found me a room and I had decided at this point that I wanted drugs! Unlike an ironman event where drugs are not permitted I wanted to throw my natural birth plan out the window and take whatever drugs I could. But there were to be no drugs as I was about to deliver this baby, my labour had clearly progressed quite quickly and there was no time for drugs, or for Luke to run back to the car to get my bag and the camera. The labour pains and the pain of pushing out a 3.88kg baby were intense and there were times when I thought I couldn't do it, but unlike an Ironman where you can choose to pull out at any time during the race, this was one event that there was no retiring from!

The finish line

At the finish line of the ironman I hobbled across the line, completely exhausted and received my finishers medal and towel. I could barely walk and the first thing on my mind was icecream, lots of icecream! I had completed my biggest challenge to date and as tired as I was I was pretty proud of myself. I was now an Ironman!!

At the end of my labour I got to hold my beautiful baby girl in my arms, I can't even describe the feelings that I felt when I held her in my arms for the first time. I was absolutely exhausted, extremely emotional and overwhelmed with the love I felt for this baby that I had created and grown. This was a much better reward than a finishers medal and towel! I was now a mum!

After the event

In the days after the ironman I felt sore and could barely walk, I slept like a baby from pure exhaustion and I got to party! I also put on a few kg's as I wasn't training and I was probably over indulging just a little at plenty of end of year parties.

In the days after giving birth I felt a bit sore, I had lost 8kg's immediately and plenty more dropped off fairly quickly, I didn't get much sleep as I had to care for my baby and feed her and there was certainly no partying to be had. But who needed to party when I could spend all day cuddling my beautiful baby girl in my arms. 

Whilst it had always been a goal of mine to complete an ironman triathlon the achievement doesn't compare at all to having a baby, it doesn't even come close. Being able to call myself a mum is a far greater reward than being able to call myself an ironman.

10 things only a mum would do!

Since becoming a mum there are a few things that I never thought I would do before becoming a mum!

1. When out in public and discovering baby has done a nappy explosion, using hand to cover over the clothing covered in poo so that people don't see that your child has poo everywhere and judges you as a bad parent! - this happened just last week when waiting in a very long line at a petrol station counter and was of course followed by a nappy change and outfit change in the boot of the car which has been done many times before.

2. Go more than a week without washing my hair, dry shampoo is really a wonderful thing.  It seems that every time I wash my hair chunks fall out anyway so best to minimise the number of times it is washed to ensure I don't end up bald!

3. Go to the toilet whilst wearing a baby. What is one to do when wearing a sleeping baby in a baby carrier whilst busting for the loo, there is no way I am waking up the baby when she is sleeping and when you need to wee you need to wee, bladder control after having a baby is not the same as it used to be!

4. Be wide awake in the middle of the night even though my baby is fast asleep and has been for hours. I lie awake at times imagining I hear the sound of my baby, only to check on her via the baby video monitor and see that she is fast asleep. This can repeat multiple times a night, despite being extremely tired.

5. Talk baby talk, I always said I was never going to talk baby talk and speak to my children the same way I would speak to any adult. I have to confess I speak baby talk at least once a day.

6. Not even blink an eyelid when baby spews all over you, just wipe it up and keep on going. It's particularly awesome when somehow they manage to vomit right down your top and you end up with a pool of vomit sitting in your extremely attractive maternity bra.

7. Think my baby was adorable when really they kind of weren't! I always said that if my baby wasn't cute I'd be able to see that and admit it, but of course you realise when becoming a parent that you always think your baby is very cute. As I started pulling together her photo albums I looked back to the very early photos and came to the realisation that she was really a rather grumpy looking baby as first and took awhile to grow into her chubby cheeks. Now of course I think she is the cutest baby in the world (not a biased mum at all).

8. I never thought that I would ever want to be a stay at home mum. I have always enjoyed my career and worked hard to get to where I am, yet I now find that I am loving spending my days with my baby girl and watching her grow and change every single day. Sure I miss my career but I know that when I return to work I will miss my baby girl a million times more. I thought that I would be bored after a few weeks and itching to go back to work, but now at the thought of returning to work in only 5 weeks I am wishing I had many more weeks at home with my little girl.

9. Go to bed before the sun has gone down. Yes there has been many a night when after putting little miss to bed at 7.30 I have followed shortly after, having to pull down the blinds to block out the sun. I can now understand why parents don't like daylight savings.

10. Be a worrier! Ok well maybe this one was present prior to becoming a mum, those who know me well would probably say that I have always been a worrier only now this has increased 10 fold!  I worried in the early days when she slept for too long whether she was still breathing or not, I worry about every little cough, rash or mark on her little body, I worry if she is too hot or too cold, I worry if I am making enough milk for her and spend endless hours producing my own smoothies or biscuits to try to increase milk supply. 

Happy New Year

My New Years resolution (or one of many) is to stop being slack and get my blog back up and running, not for the benefit of others but purely for myself, I find it somewhat therapeutic and I enjoy looking back and being able to reflect on my life via my blog.

It's been 5 months since I last posted and my life has certainly changed a lot in those 5 months! I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (maybe she wasn't so beautiful at the time, but she sure is a little cutie pie now!) in August and I have spent the past 4 1/2 months enjoying being a mum and watching my girl grow and change every day. 

The birth was a relatively easy birth so I will have to revisit a previous entry about which would be harder, child birth or an ironman! I was blessed from day one with a baby that sleeps fairly well so I haven't experienced the extreme sleep deprivation that some other poor mums experience.  Though it would be nice to just have one day where I don't have to get up at 6am (especially on New Year's Day when suffering a hangover). I have been lucky enough to successfully be able to breastfeed, though the early days did present some challenges with a blocked duct turning into an abscess that required draining 6 times. I started to look like a junkie with numerous needle marks and severe bruising on my breast, thankfully it all resolved itself eventually and I could start relaxing and enjoying motherhood a little more.

I have learnt that motherhood is the hardest job that I will ever have as it's a 24/7 job, yet it is also the most rewarding job. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing a great big smile every morning when I get her up (though this smile is very short lived as she becomes extremely impatient wanting her feed!).

I have learnt that babies will always poo or spew as soon as you put them in the car seat on your way out somewhere. I never leave the house without a spare change of clothes and plenty of bibs and spew rags! I have been spewed on countless times, and now don't even bother changing, just wipe it off and get on with things! 

I have learnt that the human body is truly an amazing thing, at 41 weeks pregnant I had gained 20kg's and my stomach was stretched to the max! At 4 months post partum I had lost the whole 20kg's plus a little more and my stomach almost looks like it has never housed a baby. 

I have re learnt the words to a number of nursery rhymes and have discovered that Old MacDonald is the only acceptable song when she is unhappy. Many a time in the car Old MacDonald has ran out of farm animals and suddenly ends up with some rather interesting things on his farm. After singing multiple renditions of this song yesterday I decided to create a new version 'Old MacDonald had a Zoo' only to quickly discover I don't know what noises any zoo animals make!

I have learnt that talking to a baby all day long can send you slightly crazy and when craving adult conversation you find yourself going to the local shops and making conversations with shop keepers just so that you can have one non baby conversation for the day! 

I have acquired new skills such as being able to perform nearly any task using only one arm whilst carrying a baby in the other. I have learnt that whilst breastfeeding you can multi task and catch up on emails and do all of your Christmas shopping online. I have learnt that tiny humans create a mountain of washing and you can't tell them to do it themselves! I have learnt that coffee and dry shampoo are my new best friends.

I have learnt that the love you feel for this tiny person you created is like no other you will ever feel. When she smiles and laughs you smile and laugh with her. When she cries you feel her pain and it hurts when you don't know what's wrong and how to help her. When you are feeling down she somehow knows how to make you happy, a smile, a hug, a sloppy wet kiss.