|| Mumma Daze ||

A whirlwind is the only way to explain the first three weeks of school. Who can ever believe their baby has grown another year older and is now playing in the "big kids" playground or doesn't necessarily need to be walked to and from the classroom? In the past three weeks I have learnt a lot about me as a Mum too! I have learnt that homework is another layer in our already very busy lives that needs to be managed, or it just won't get done due to time constraints, and that it will cause me more stress than it will Cas, or his teacher, if it doesn't get done. I have also learnt that as Cas grows I am struggling to keep up with a varied and reasonably healthy lunchbox. From this I have learnt that you can cook fish fingers and then fridge them for lunch the next day! Read half of a blog post last night about all the kinds of Mums at the school gate. Why there is a need to label everyone I don't know. I just know that I have also learnt that real friends ca...

Amidst the Christmas tree, the decorations, the gift shopping and card writing that has so consumed the last two weeks, another huge milestone for the year has also been ticking along in the background (or foreground..perhaps) - we have come to the end of our year of Prep! This in itself brings another set of to do lists, places to be, people to see and things to bring. With a class break up, whole school assembly, party day including a special lunch and teachers gifts to source, create, wrap and GIVE.... this week has been a whirlwind and I have just crashed back to earth today. When alllllll of that is happening amongst a busy, and important week at work (WHO schedules important meetings in the last weeks of the year? oh. me. right.) it's inevitable that at some point it will catch up to you. For two weeks I was aiming for Thursday evening, I just had to get through yesterday, and we'd be fine. And we did. And I was fine. Until 12.30am Thursday night / Friday mornin...

Thursday afternoon and I find myself at swimming lessons.  A parenting duty, a necessary requirement especially in Australia. Kids must be able to swim. For us, we share our current time slot with approximately four other families. All with multiple siblings, some that also swim at this time. Some that don't. The viewing room is filled with very rowdy kids. Eager to burn off late afternoon energy but stuck at older brothers / sisters swimming lessons. Add to this the dank smell of spring heat - not quite hot enough for air con yet so we suffer it, and the unmistakable stench of a dirty nappy left in a bin by a previous family group. Parents talk and laugh at the kids attempting the most difficult of swimming style, all eager for adult conversation.... Except this adult who gets enough of it at work.  There's a Mum of a little one who has chosen to leave her in the car in air conditioning to sleep (I judge you not but next time point your exhaust AWAY from the window of the vie...

2015 brought us to the world of school. Of Prep. A non-compulsory first year of schooling in QLD for kids that turn 5 before the end of June. That was the little guy.  With prep came a change of routine. A change of work hours. And a massive shift in day to day life for our clan.  Having celebrated the survival of 4 years of daycare at the end of 2014. The beginning of 2015 was also a celebration. This Mama would be in charge of "drop off" for the first time ever. Previously a "dad duty" this change was almost the biggest for us all.  From the time we made the difficult decision regarding working V stay at home Mum it had always been our intention that come school time, the work hours would decrease, and the Mum hours would increase. I counted down the years, months and days.  With much thanks to a supportive employer, this change became reality.  Since that first day in January, we have come along in leaps and bounds. As individuals, and as a family g...

A series of "events" have found me standing at my stove at 5.15am on Tuesday morning stirring bechamel sauce for lasagne. What a time for reflection. (Insert appropriate level of sarcasm here) Returning to work five days a week combined with the expected rush after three weeks holidays and the stress of having your home on the market does funny things to a woman. Oh yes of course, I said on Sunday night, I'll make a double batch of spaghetti and make a lasagne for dinner Tuesday night! Groan. 

Today I discussed with a friend, what next. My little boy starts prep next January, we aren't having any more children. And after doing some recent research into a franchise, we aren't moving forward with our own business for some time yet. So, what next, was the question I put to my "bestie" She says "Have you thought about writing a book?" I nearly spat my coffee on her, laughing I asked, "About What?!" The serious look she gave me made me realise it wasn't a joke. A book is far from my reach, and commitment level I'm sure. I reminded her I do blog, or more to the point, I HAVE blogs, that I don't write in. But that I did have some ideas about what those said blogs could contain. Tonight, I decided to test myself. Can I write, in a blog I already have, rather than open another blank page and start again. I'm here. I did it. One step closer to the book my best friend would clearly love to read.... (shame about...

When I was a girl.... things were different. I think. Apparently, in the 80's (and 90's?) all the kids played outside, got dirty, ate worms and only came home when the sun went down. What I really think is we're kidding ourselves. As parents we're constantly comparing what we do with our kids to what others do with their kids, or comparing to what we experienced in our childhood. And we turned out okay, right? So we never watched TV. NOPE. As my little boy grows up I am starting to recall just how much TV I actually watched. How does Mary Poppins three times each morning before breakfast sound? Like too much screen time? Yep, probably. But that was in the 80's. We didn't have too much "screen time" in the 80's, or did we? We always played outside. NOPE. I have never been able to climb a fence, let alone a tree. I am not the best at riding bikes. And I don't really remember ever being absolutely filthy dirty from being outside all da...