Grandparents!!!

This is a catch-up post!  Yay!!!

I've been seriously floored with a head cold that won't let me breathe - even when I take anti-histamines, spray stuff up my nose and have a very hot, steamy shower.   Kind of makes it hard to think, and sleep (and therefore think), let alone write!

So, sorry about the delay (and lack of posts this past week or so).  Let's catch up!

The Big Fella's parents, Grandma and Grandpa, live two states away, but their families are in and around the capital of this state.  They tend to come up a couple of times a year, and this time they made the effort to come and see us in our new, semi-outback town.

(By the way, we've been here for a whole year tomorrow!)

While they were here, we decided to take them to our most notable attraction - a gorgeous waterfall in the hills we see on the other side of the highway.  It takes about 45 minutes to drive there, then almost an hour to walk in to the waterfall.

Given the possibility of a swim when we got there, the Little Big Fella had no complaints on the way in.

Unfortunately, it was rather chilly in the water (I couldn't even stand in it, it felt pretty much icy) so no swimming was enjoyed this time, but the views were great and we all enjoyed a bit of rock crawling.

The Big Fella's parents :-)

The Little Big Fella decided he needed Blue Bear on the trek.  You can tell by the lack of stuffing in his neck that he's well-loved :-D

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the Little Big Fella was not keen to walk the hour back to the car.  So the Big Fella piggy-backed him up all 240 stairs!

I got to carry the Little Big Fella for short bursts along the track as well, but where it was pretty flat.

I have to take this moment to brag a little too, because I'm so proud of the changes I'm seeing from all the effort I've been putting in.

Last time we came to this waterfall, I remember having very little breath by the time I reached the top, and my butt was killing me!  But this time I got to the top, only just out of breath, and that was having run up and down a few sections so I could get some of these photos.  My butt was fi-ine :-D

Yay me!!!  And thank you to Holly and my online friends from Fit Yummy Mummy for helping me get to this level of strength and fitness!

This is the crossing on the way to the falls - gorgeous in its own right!

That evening we'd decided to go out for dinner.  So we took Grandma and Grandpa to the golf club, where the restaurant specialises in Thai food (as well as offering standard pub fare).  It was a really lovely evening with good conversation, good food, and a little bit of good drink.  We thoroughly enjoyed each others' company and felt content with the day's efforts :-)

The next morning the Big Fella had to go to work before the rest of us were even awake.  We had a nice, leisurely breakfast and Grandma and Grandpa started getting their things together so they could go on to their next stop.

But before they went we got to have a bit of a play with some giant bubble wands that Grandpa had brought for the Little Big Fella.

Here's Grandpa :-)

Grandma and the Little Big Fella enjoying the show :-)

Our "brave" dogs hiding under Grandma's feet :-}

Grandpa's pretty good at this!

My cheeky son pretending to be an astronaut?

Grandma's turn!

Why, Little Big Fella!  What a big bubble you have!!!

The Little Big Fella loves to hit the bubbles that are already floating in the air.  Because of the awesomeness of these bubble wands, he created a big one at the same time!

Eventually it had to happen - it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to leave.  Hugs and kisses all around and reminding all that we'll see each other in July, and then they were off.

Sometimes, living so far away from family really sucks.  Okay, most of the time.  But I'm so grateful for blogs, Facebook, mobile phones, Skype and all of the technology, as well as old-fashioned snail mail, that allows us to keep in touch with them and make the distance not feel so far... most of the time.  We love you all and can't wait to see you soon!!!

A whirlwind visit

I got a phone call from the Big Fella just after 4am.  "I'll be home in about 10 minutes."  So began our whirlwind visit to our previous home town.

This bit needs to be read at fast speed, all in one breath.  Imagine you're reading a speedy race story to a toddler.  Ready?  Go!

Pack the last bits, get the Little Big Fella up and in the car, drive 7 hours, shopping, visiting my Grandparents, sleep, visit SuperCarer, shop, Grandparent's for lunch, clothes shopping and arvo tea with sister, dinner at Grandparent's, sleep, a million errands and shops, Grandparent's for lunch, visiting for the arvo, everyone at Grandparent's for dinner, sleep, pack everything up, breakfast, drive 7 hours home, Little Big Fella to bed, SLEEP!

How'd you do?  Did you make it in one breath???

We had an awesome time and it felt like a holiday... maybe a holiday on speed?  It was great to catch up with my family and a couple of friends (never enough time for that though!).

Here's the slower version of the week:

We left our place on Monday morning, after having had the Big Fella's Aunt and Uncle stay on Saturday night.  They live in France and are having a wonderfully long holiday, including several months in Australia.  We were lucky enough to be the first family they stayed with here :-)  We had a wonderful time with them and have received an emphatically enthusiastic invitation to come and stay with them!

We got a photo of me and the Big Fellas, a first in a couple of years I think:

Yep, time for a couple of good photos of us I guess!

I won't put our photo of them on my blog because I didn't ask their permission.  But if any family members would like to see, e-mail or Facebook me and I'll send it to you :-)

After the phone call on Monday morning, I got up and got myself and the rest of our things ready.  Just before 5 I woke the Little Big Fella and told him it was time to go to Poppy's house - he was up in a blink!  Then it was into the car and off we go!

The Big Fella had worked all night and by the time we got to the first town he was ready for a break.  So I jumped in the driver's seat.  I'd only had about 4 hours of sleep myself, so 2 hours down the road I realised I'd started phasing out and did a little swerve.

I pulled over at the next little bit off the side of the road.

It's SO easy to keep pushing yourself when you're driving.  Or maybe it's just me?  But to pull over, get out of the car and walk around it a few times makes such a difference!!!  I grabbed something to eat as well and I'm pretty sure that helped too.

There were heaps of roadworks on the way down, which meant a lot of stopping.  For some reason, this particularly irks the Big Fella, although it doesn't tend to bother me a huge amount.

We got into town around midday and did a quick spot of shopping before heading to my grandparents' place where we would be staying.  I was really tired by this time, but I love being with my family!  And it is really awesome to see the Little Big Fella and Poppy together.  They adore each other and I really hope my little boy gets to remember how much, and that it's not just about the tractors he gets to ride, the playground or playing golf.

On Tuesday we got to spend the morning with SuperCarer, while the Big Fella went to the dentist.  For some reason SuperCarer and I really hit it off from the start and we became friends, so hanging out there for the morning was awesome for both me and the Little Big Fella.

My nephews and the Little Big Fella's other good friend were there for the morning so it was one big playtime!

The Little Big Fella playing with his cousins in the sandpit.

When it comes to food, these two are peas in a pod!  It's ALL about the food ;-D

It was funny watching the Little Big Fella playing in SuperCarer's yard because he's so obviously taller than the last time I watched him play there!  And taller than the other boys.

When I said "10 minutes then we have to go", the Little Big Fella's friend said to me, "I don't want him to go!  I miss him!".  They'd had such a fun time together and it really was sad to have to say goodbye.

After a bit of food shopping (gosh I miss the selection, quality and prices we had there!), I dropped the Little Big Fella back at my grandparents' with the Big Fella.  Incidentally, we'd come down so that the Big Fella could get a root canal done, but there was a slight miscommunication and they couldn't do it without a preparatory appointment. So it looks like we'll just have to go back, probably before Christmas... darn!!! ;-)

I'd planned to have lunch and spend the afternoon shopping with my sister, but she'd come down really unwell the night before.  So I did a bit of shopping on my own.  My first purchase was a new belt, because I was down to the second last hole on mine and the tail end was hanging out everywhere!!!  Gotta tell ya, that feels awesome!

Part way through the afternoon I got a call from my sister saying she was feeling slightly better and should we meet up for a coffee and a bit more shopping?  Of course we should!!!

Have I mentioned that I love my family?  I must be hormonal tonight because I've been tear-ing up as I've been writing this post and preparing the photos.  My sister and I are only 14 months apart and almost always shared a bedroom.  As you'd expect, we fought a bit but we've mostly been best friends.  I think adulthood has put a bit of a dampener on that, but I miss her like crazy (and my other siblings too, by the way).  So I thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon with her.

Know what else I enjoyed?  Trying on clothes and, instead of deciding if they'd do, I got to decide if I actually liked them because they looked good on me!  It was literally the most fun I've had clothes shopping in years!

I went back to my grandparents' place where the Big Fella made Thai green curry with squid and prawns.  It was SO yummy!!!

While we were at my grandparents' place I read books to the Little Big Fella at bedtime, which I haven't done much at home for a while.  We both really enjoyed it, and I think he went to sleep better as well.  I think I'd like to re-implement that at home!

By Wednesday I was tired!  For some reason I didn't sleep well in my grandparents' bed and had weird dreams at the end of the night too.

The Fellas and I spent the morning running errands around town.  We had 9 stops to make!  Now, anyone who doesn't have a toddler, 9 stops is a bit of a pain but no big deal, right?  Add a toddler and it becomes... stressful.  After about 4 stops the Big Fella was getting a little angsty so we tried to short-cut as many stops as we could and only get the necessary person/people out of the car at each stop.

One thing we did pick up was a smoking BBQ, which the Big Fella is awfully excited about.  It is a wood/coal fired BBQ but it also has a smoking box off to the side, so you can cook your meat with hot smoke rather than direct heat.  Given the Big Fella's inclination towards salamis, hams and other cured meats, it's no surprise he's excited by this too.

I was a bit worried by this stage though.  We'd bought a fair bit of stuff and I wasn't sure we'd be able to get it all home, even in our awesome ute!  Never fear, the Big Fella will find a way :-)

The afternoon was taken up with visiting.  We dropped the Big Fella off at his old work shed, then the Little Big Fella and I went and visited some friends at that end of town.  We had a taste of Whoopie Pies for the first time.  They were okay but I'm not sure that I'd be super excited about them.

It's SO good to catch up with friends.  Even though I was exhausted, I felt somewhat invigorated by my visit.  You know, new friends are great, but old friends are priceless!

We got back to my grandparents' place just before my sister and nephews arrived.  Yet again, there was a lot of running!!!  My sister had brought the boys' bikes and one for the Little Big Fella and they had a ball riding around and later playing footy with my brother-in-law.

Of course, being boys and cousins, there had to be a moment of silliness ;-)

We had pizza and white chocolate caramel mudcake for dinner, as well as lovely conversation.  Oh!  And before that we had a beautiful sunset, looking out over the sugar cane fields:

And I can't resist adding these photos too:

My Poppy

My Nanna

My hubby :-)

Eventually we had to put three tired boys to bed (and the adults) so my sister, brother-in-law and nephews headed home.  Sigh.  I'll miss them.

Thursday morning we got up and packed up, had a lovely breakfast then hit the road.  We decided to take the back roads home and it was a lovely trip!  The Little Big Fella had a good sleep, and I'd bought him a new DVD so he was quite content in the back seat.

We didn't get home until just after 5pm because of a couple of extra stops.  I was feeling really tired and a bit ill.  My body hasn't had much in the way of wheat products, or much fat I guess, for eight weeks and it was seriously reacting to the pizza and mudcake I'd enjoyed the night before :-(  And I'd pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck when moving shopping in from the car on Wednesday too.  All in all, I felt pretty shocking.

Anyway, we unpacked the car and fed the Little Big Fella (neither of us were interested in eating), then put him to bed.  After a lovely hot shower I was gone too!  Although the Big Fella slept great at my grandparents' place, I thoroughly enjoyed my own bed again.

There's no place like home!

Tired, fitness, community

Turns out I was tired!  Really tired!  Because I went to bed early last night (somewhere between 9:30 and 10) and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning!!!  When I think back to the start of the year where 4:30 and 5am were normal starts to the day, 8:30 feels like an absolute extravagance!

I've been really good at doing my workouts this week (I've been doing the Fit Yummy Mummy program for almost 7 weeks) and I'm much better with my "clean eating" this week than last week, where I totally bombed out.  You know my favourite thing about it so far?  I like the food, and I like that I only need to workout for 15 minutes a day, but my favourite thing is the reaction of my husband.  Sure, he appreciates my changing body (I know you all went there first!), but he tells me I inspire him and that is very cool!

As a stay-at-home-mum I don't often feel very inspirational: how inspiring is it to do the dishes again, and do the laundry again, and clean up the mess from the dog/child/husband again, and keep the shopping in budget?  But to inspire my husband, who I love and respect and find inspirational in so many ways, yeah, I really like that!

I am a little worried though.  It was warm yesterday so I put on a pair of shorts that I wore last summer (and were getting close to too tight).  They're rather loose... actually, they're on the verge of baggy!  So my worry is that I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe for summer or else I'm just going to look daggy baggy all season!!!  Damn!!! ;-)

Okay, moving on from bragging (actually, I'm just really proud of how I'm going and sometimes it's hard to not share).

The Big Fella started his train driver tests today.  Back in October last year he started the "school" and passed that in April this year.  He has been working with a tutor driver since then, as a Driver Assistant.  But, assuming he passes this set of tests this weekend, he will be a fully qualified train driver.  It's very exciting (actually, apparently the testing is very boring so far, but the potential results are exciting).

The Little Big Fella and I went on a couple of bike rides today.  I don't know that I would really call it bike riding though.  I would call it "is it possible to ride any slower and can we go further than 5 metres without stopping?".  Needless to say, I was a little frustrated.  But the Little Big Fella loves it so I went with him.

The good thing about the bike ride this morning was that we stopped and talked to a few friends along the way, and ended up spending an hour or so with some new friends that we've only met once or twice before.  Turns out we get along pretty well :-)

I love the small community here.  There are so many families with young children and it just creates an awesome atmosphere.  It's safe enough that there were about 20 kids at the park this afternoon with me as the only adult (there were other parents in nearby houses but I was the only one physically there for about 20 minutes).  And yesterday one parent brought her kids and another family's kids to the park so the other parent could have a break to do a few things.  And that kind of thing is common.

After our sudden-hit of illness last week, where I discovered we had no Neurofen for kids or cough medicine or anything of that kind, almost every mum I ran into over the next few days mentioned that they had a store of it at home and I could have just called them.  I'd never even thought to call anyone here because I'm so used to living independently.  But here, because of the size of the town and the distance to medical help, everyone is prepared for the worst and willing to help and share.

That's what I was hoping it would be like here too!  I was so hoping it would be a close but open community.  I was hoping people would keep an eye out on everyone else's kids.  I was hoping to be welcomed easily, despite existing friendships.  And it is like that here and I am so grateful!

The Big Fella's Days Off

I'm not exactly sure what I've been up to since my last post but I'm certain I've been busy!!!  Whenever the Big Fella has days off (he gets 3, 4 or 5 in a row) we tend to be busy, the house doesn't get its normal general tidy and clean, and we have lots of fun doing... whatever!


Getting to the computer is once again a bit tricky, I think that's mostly because I tend to do it when both Fellas are sleeping or the Big Fella is at work and the Little Big Fella is sleeping.


My father-in-law came up on Friday.  He flew interstate and we went and collected him from the airport an hour away.  He was very keen to buy the Little Big Fella an ice-cream (and there were no complaints from that end of the field either!) so we ended up getting a box of mini Magnums from the supermarket while we were there.


The Big Fella also did a little shopping while we were in the bigger town (oh! And saw the dentist, but more about that another time).  He bought some clothes from our new favourite country-style clothing store, then went into Big W to try to find a replacement set top box.


The Big Fella's favourite show at the moment is Masterchef.  It's on channel 10.  There are a couple of other shows he likes, also on channel 10.  Guess which channel doesn't work so good???  Yep, channel 10.  After a bit of messing around, we worked out that the reason we weren't getting good signal was either the set top box or the aerial.  So, he decided to "just look" at set top boxes while we ate our ice creams.


A little while later he comes out of the store empty handed.  I have to say I was a little surprised... until he told me he'd bought a new digital TV that didn't require a set top box :-D  Thankfully, when we got it all set up we received channel 10 nice and clear :-)


When we eventually got home we lit the fire and the guys sat about making it work while I got stuff ready upstairs.  Then we did our first stir fry over the fire!  The Big Fella bought a couple of woks a few years ago but we haven't had gas cooking facilities so they've mostly stayed in the cupboard (poor neglected things!).  But last time we had a fire the Big Fella had the thought that a wok would sit quite nicely on top of it (it's a converted washing machine drum) and it turns out he was right.  It cooked really hot, which is perfect for stir fries.


In the morning the Big Fella and his dad went out for breakfast at the mine camp just up the road.  They do all the cooked breakfast items that guys seem to love and you get to pack a container of food to take for lunch as well.  They did that because the Big Fella's dad bought our car and was driving back home and having some yummy fresh food is always a good thing when you travel.


I was planting some garlic that had sprouted in the cupboard when I heard a horrible cry and looked up to see the Little Big Fella at the kitchen door holding his hand out and bawling!  I ran up the stairs to find blood leaking out of the webbing between his thumb and pointer finger on his left hand.  Of course, being 3 he doesn't want me to touch it or put anything on it but is freaking out about the blood coming out of him.


I get a tissue on it and walk (calmly) down the hallway with him to get bandaids, hoping and praying that it's not too bad and we won't need to go to hospital because the Big Fella is out with the car.  We get the bandaid ready (luckily the Little Big Fella is a huge fan of bandaids) then take the tissue off to check the damage.


Phew!  It's just a little cut.


Want to know how it happened?  Of course you do!  I wouldn't be writing about it on my blog if it wasn't at least mildly interesting :-D


While I was outside the Little Big Fella decided that he wanted to play with the money in his money box/shoe.  To get to the money you have to turn the shoe upside down and turn the circle plug thingy around.  He obviously couldn't do it by himself.  So he decides he needs a knife to open it!!!!!  He goes to the kitchen and gets out my little paring knife.


Now, the Big Fella doesn't believe in blunt knives so every knife in our house is sharp.  Not just fairly sharp either.  To test if it's sharp enough he uses it to dry-shave his forearm.  It's not sharp unless he gets a little bald patch!


So the Little Big Fella takes this sharp little paring knife and attempts to use it to open his money shoe.  As you do.


Obviously he's slipped and copped the nice sharp tip in the webbing of his hand.  I'm SO grateful that's all he did!!!  Honestly, I'm expecting one day we'll have to go to the hospital with broken bones, split head/chin/hand/knee or whatever else kids do when they're exploring the world and not overly afraid (or aware) of hurting themselves, but I'm glad it wasn't yesterday.  I get the feeling that the Little Big Fella has a new respect for the sharpness of knives though!


Who knew planting garlic could be so eventful???  We got a couple of bandaids on the cut and then taped it up with sports tape because I knew the bandaids had no chance of staying on without his whole hand wrapped up!  Sure enough, by about 2pm he'd decided he was fixed and took it all off.  As soon as he rode his bike it started bleeding again and needed to be re-dressed.


What else have we been up to with the Big Fella home?


Well, the Big Fella wanted to collect some wood for making a chook house, outdoor table and bench chairs, a sandpit and other bits and pieces so the Little Big Fella and I jumped in the car and went with him.


Now, when I say "some" wood I mean posts, beams and random bits of wood that are now piled under our stairs - about 1.5 metres deep, 3 or 4 metres long and piled about half to a metre high.  He collected more today, including what will be half of the floor of our soon-to-be chook house.  (A deal has been done and we're getting 6 chooks and a duck.)


This morning the Big Fella used some of the wood to create a sandbox for the Little Big Fella.  He made the frame, dug a little channel for it to sit in, then went and collected a ute-load of sand from the creek (that's a serious workout right there!).  The Little Big Fella loves it and has been in it for at least an hour today (he would have been in there longer if he'd been home more).


I was super tired today so this arvo I had a little lay down (not a nap because I was too cold to sleep).  When I got up I had so much more energy.  The Fellas were out helping a friend collect more of that wood so I got to whip around the house and do some cleaning (including vacuuming up sand from the new sandpit - there's going to be some lessons learned around here over the next few days!!!) and dinner prep.


Actually, we had a garlic/lime/chilli chicken dish tonight that was quite yummy.  It's from Leanne, the Dinner Diva.  I've not tried any of her recipes until tonight but I'm thinking of searching for some more because it was quick, easy and delicious!


We've had some night time issues over the past few nights.  The Little Big Fella must be sleeping really solidly because normally he gets up once or twice to use the loo before I go to bed.  But he wet his bed twice in one night and tonight he woke up crying but didn't get up.  I went to him and tried to work out what was wrong.  He wouldn't tell me because he was crying, then I feel warm wet.  Ugh!  I hate being peed on!  At least he didn't wet the bed though - getting the two of us cleaned up is so much less of a drama than changing sheets!


Today was my Fit Yummy Mummy 4 week weigh in.  I forgot!  So I didn't weigh in until after breakfast but I've lost 2 kilos and 3cm on my muffin top.  I'm going to do another weigh in tomorrow though, just to see if breakfast made that much difference.  I also took photos (nope, you can't see them - I'm not ready for that) and can see a bit of a difference in my face, muffin top and a bit of muscle definition in my arms and shoulders.  Oh!  And I wore a couple of items of clothing this week that I haven't been able to wear in ages!!!  And I'm wearing my belt 2, nearly 3 notches tighter than when I started.  It feels awesome!  I'm looking at the whole thing as a lifestyle, rather than a diet and I think it's sustainable, and all those veges and un-processed foods have got to be good for me.


We've got another big week coming up.  A birthday party, a baby shower, friends for dinner, and all the other bits and pieces that fill up our life here.  Hopefully I'll be able to grab a few minutes (and hopefully photos) to tell you all about it!!!

Out and about after the rain

OMG!  How much washing can you do in one day???  My line was full today!


Yesterday was wet!  I mean, really wet!  Our backyard was a swamp in most parts and pools in the others.  No way was I going outside!  And today?  Only in gumboots baby!


So today when I got up and the sun was shining I got the washing going straight away.  I decided to ditch the workout for the morning so I could make sure the Little Big Fella and I got out before the rain came back (the Big Fella was at work from just after midnight this morning).

We went down to the park about 9:30 and there was no one around, which is a bit odd.  I think playgroup must have been on and we missed it :-(


I recently realised that whenever the Little Big Fella is playing I tend to play on my phone rather than watching him or playing with him.  Not good.  Certainly not all the time!


So I deliberately left my phone in my bag and let him show off for me (yes, he is a show off, even at 3 years old).  And he loved it.  I noticed that when he's riding in a straight line he's not using his training wheels at all!  Won't be long and he won't even need them!!!


I noticed all these cars pulling over just up the road and didn't really think anything of it.  Then I started to wonder if something was going on.  Then, at 10:45, I remembered!  As of Monday (2 days ago) the mail is now being given out at the CWA hall between 9 and 11 every weekday morning!!!  I had to get up there and get the mail!


(For those who don't know, we live in a town of about 360 people.  We used to have a little post office but the people running it have sold their place and the new owners didn't want to take on the post office.  We had to collect our mail from the next town and it was a bit of a pain, for us and the post office staff there.  So having our mail back in our town is awesome!)


I got the Little Big Fella to get off the swing and we headed over to the hall.  On the way we ran into our friends and had a little chat but then I had to say a quick goodbye and keep going.  Luckily they'll be coming over on Friday morning for our first playdate at our house!


We made it in time and apparently the Big Fella had already collected the mail this morning :-D.  That was okay though because there was a parcel for us that had been missed.


The Little Big Fella decided that we needed to go to the shop and get a lolly (candy) and I agreed we could.  When we got there, he was adamant that he actually wanted an ice cream.  I agreed and he chose a Drumstick.  For those who don't know, a Drumstick is in a waffle cone and has yummy chocolate on top as well.  Surprisingly, this was a much cleaner ice cream for the Little Big Fella than the one he normally has, which is designed for kids!  Yay for less clean up :-D


I was also really proud of myself for just eating the pear that I had in my bag.


On the way back we decided to stop in at the Library, seeing that it was open.  My Little Big Fella makes me smile so often.  I can't even remember the actual conversation he had with the Librarian but it was really cute, and just so him!


Well, we couldn't just go home from there so we went back to the park for a while longer.  The Little Big Fella wanted me to run around while he rode his bike.  (Oh!  I forgot to mention that the skate area of the park still had big puddles from yesterday's rain, and he was riding through them and laughing his head off about the splashes.)  So I chased him through the puddles in my lovely big gumboots :-D


Eventually we had to go home because I was hungry!


The rest of the day was mostly taken up with housework, a workout that nearly killed me, and a lovely candlelit dinner.  It's been a nice day.


Oh!!!  I forgot to tell you!!!  I bought a yoghurt maker and made my first Greek yoghurt last night.  I didn't put any sugar in it so it's fairly tart but it tastes delicious!!!  I had some this morning on my oat pancakes with caramelised banana, walnuts and cherries.  Mmmm mmmmm!!!

Glitter and paint

Having missed my workout two days in a row, I did a combined strength and cardio this morning... playing shoot 'em up with my toddler and deflecting excited puppies at the same time!  Have you tried stretching with a puppy on your lap/tummy?  It adds a bit of an ab workout with the laughter :-D


I love that I can do some exercise in my own home and play with my son at the same time.  My cardio today was to run on the spot as fast as I could for 60 seconds then walk/march for 60 seconds.  The Little Big Fella did some on-the-spot running with me then took off down the hall... so I chased him as fast as I could (making him squeal with delight), shot him then raced back and kept my speedy running going.  In my "break" minutes I'd shoot and tickle him.  Talk about multi-tasking :-D


This afternoon the Big Fella was sleeping after working all night and the Little Big Fella decided he wanted to create.  He found my hot glue gun in a craft tub and brought it out saying it's a "glitter glue".  Eventually I realised that he must have done some gluing and glittering with SuperCarer so I agreed we could do some (inwardly cringing at the potential clean up required).


Craft with little kids is messy!  But it's also really cool!  They don't have any rules (other than don't throw the glitter all over the house and so on) so they do whatever they want and my boy surprises me every time we do crafts.

Firstly, his control of the hot glue gun was a surprise!  He knew what he was doing and that it was hot and therefore a little dangerous.

And his choice of colours surprised me too!  He balanced out the colours really nicely (well, it appealed to me anyway).


And  he'd put glue over glitter that was already on the page, or over another glue/glitter spot, which made the picture even more interesting.

Of course, there was leftover glitter that didn't quite make it into the tubes again so he had to "fingerpaint" in that!


He wasn't quite ready to give up the crafty bug yet so he requested paint.  Inwardly I sighed, then went and got them (and the messy mat).


Again he surprised me!  He's really good at stamping (I think he might have had a fair bit of practice at that).  But he also layered his pictures by stamping, painting with the stencil brush and using his fingers (yep, rolled my eyes at that one).

Eventually he'd had enough (or I had and encouraged him to finish up) and I sent him to the bathroom to clean up.  Cleaning up the bathroom after he'd been in there was the biggest clean up task of the day!!!  He'd splashed water everywhere, put a ton of liquid soap and sorbolene cream (moisturiser) in the sink, and discovered the water spray bottle in the cupboard so sprayed the whole room!


Off came the clothes and he went outside with the water sprayer to water the plants while I cleaned up.


Did he water the plants?  Of course not!  He sprayed my shoes that were on the top step because "they had glitter on them".


And you know why I let him make such a mess?  Because he loves it!  And, after all, it's just mess!

Too much?

Check out our fruit basket!!!

I LOVE fruit and veges!  Which is a good thing given that I'm attempting to consume 10 serves a day!!!


I'd hoped to make some soup today (the weather has been cold and disgusting and perfectly soupy) but didn't get to it.


The Little Big Fella and I did a workout this morning (he tried a couple of things then tried to get me to play with him while I was exercising - it was slightly amusing) then had a big kick of the blow-up soccer ball in the hallway.  The Big Fella is really keen to get the Little Big Fella into soccer this next term... well, keen for me to get him into it.


After a shower, we ended up going to the park to play.  I wore my gumboots (galoshes, wellingtons) because I'm sick of getting wet, muddy feet at the moment.


We had lunch then cleaned up a bit outside.  The dogs have been digging holes and there was dirt and mud everywhere, especially in the driveway, and it was all bugging me.  I also did some laundry, hanging two loads under the house and one on the line, even though I'm pretty sure it'll rain overnight.  I'm sick of having dirty laundry around the place - I'd much rather it hanging and getting wet again :-D


The Big Fella got home a bit after that and I tried to do a few things on the phone while he distracted our son.  I'm sure I've asked this question before, but why do kids insist on talking to you in their loudest voice when you're trying to talk on the phone???  I know, they want attention but sheesh!


I was going to call Centrelink but they said the wait would be around 90 minutes!!!  Yeah, that didn't happen!


And I cleared my e-mail box of its 100-ish e-mails, including unsubscribing from a bunch of things :-D


The Big Fella requested pizza (from the next town - and I'd have to go because he'd had a couple of beers) at 4pm but then fell asleep on the couch before I was ready to go.  So the Little Big Fella helped me make some gravy, cook some veges in it and then warm some leftover roast lamb in it too.  Num num!


Both the Fellas were in bed by about quarter past 7 so I've been on the computer reading other peoples' weight loss stories and feeling encouraged that I'm doing pretty well for my first week.


The Big Fella will be home for the next 5 days (unless he gets called in for work, which is possible on 1 or 2 days) so we'll be working in the yard and doing all kinds of bits and pieces.  Prepare for some stories of capering and hilarity (but hopefully not including bogging or falling in skips)!

Making a pinboard and FYM

I was thinking last night (when I should have been asleep) that I'd like to make sure the Little Big Fella has half an understanding of letters and numbers before he goes to kindy next year.  So I'm thinking we'll focus on one letter or number each day during our craft/learning time (which hasn't happened much but I want to make it a priority).


So I thought having a pinboard to put his current art/learning works on would be a good idea.


I had an old mirror frame that broke during our first big wind in our last town. I'd previously painted the back board and put little photos of my friends and family on it but I thought it was time for a change.

I had bought a roll of cork from the local cheap shop but when I unrolled it, I discovered it was very thin so I cut out a bit of a moving box (smaller than the frame backing) so that when we put pins in they have a bit more depth to hang onto.

So I laid the cork down, then the cardboard, then the backing sheet and carefully pulled the cork tight (turns out cheap cork is very thin and breaks easily), securing it with a staple gun.

I stapled all the way around, folding the corners in nicely.

Unfortunately when I went to put it back in the frame, the cork folds on the corners made it too tight to fit!!!  Gah!  So I had to take the corner staples out, remove the extra layers from the corner folds (just tearing them out worked), and re-staple.  Ta da!  With a little squishing it fit in nicely!

So now I have a nice frame for hanging my son's work on.  Hopefully it will help us review what he's learning... we'll see.

The other thing happening at the moment is that I'm starting the Fit Yummy Mummy lifestyle change tomorrow.  I first heard about it a few months back from Angela at Grocery Shrink (a blog I follow).  The thing that really caught my attention was the workouts, which are designed to fit into about 15 minutes a day - great for busy mums!

I didn't do anything about it at the time because I wanted to look into it a bit more and then didn't get around to it.  I'm not a big one for diets (probably partly because I never needed to worry about my body until I got married, and then I didn't really care anyway).  I don't believe in shortcuts.  It's pretty simple, energy in minus energy out equals how your body is.

Anyway, I looked into it a bit more and decided that I would bite the bullet and change the way I eat and move.

I got quite discouraged this afternoon though because I was trying to plan my meals and snacks for the coming week.  The main focus of the food side of things is to eat every few hours, starting no more than an hour after you wake up.  Each time you eat you have a serve of protein, two serves of fruit &/or vegetables and a small amount of healthy fat.  You can also add "whole" complex carbohydrates, preferably only in the mornings.

I have a list of good proteins and so on and I thought I'd just write down a protein and some fruit and or veg.  Sounds easy right?

WRONG!

As I sat (for a ridiculously long time) I realised that I love yummy food!  The thought of just protein, fruit and vegetables for the rest of my life was entirely depressing!  When I meal plan, I normally like to include a range of foods, various nationalities, and try something new every couple of weeks.  And if I can't imagine eating the way I thought I should, where would I end up with this lifestyle change?

Being so discouraged I became an unpleasant person to be around.  I know!  Some of you can't imagine it!  But my son definitely can!!! :-D

A while later I started looking more at the info I had, at Angela's website, and the Fit Yummy Mummy support site and found some more info that removed the stress about it all.  Basically, you start your meal plan with the produce, then the protein, then use up the rest of your daily calories with the other stuff (making good choices along the way, but also allowing for "life" to happen).

Amazingly, I felt much better :-D  This seemed more do-able.

So I now have my meals planned for next week (including all my snacks) and I have a workout plan ready to go.  I have taken a before photo but I'm too embarrassed to share it (maybe in a month when I have a comparison for you).  And I've done a vision board (pictures and words to encourage me) and made it my desktop picture on my computer.

I guess I'll let you know how it all goes (especially if I have some crazy moments along the way!).  See you on the other side!!!

I'm losing it!

A couple of days ago my hubby told me I was losing weight.


I didn't believe him but said thanks anyway.


Later I looked in the mirror (did I mention I can actually see myself in our bathroom mirrors???) and wondered if he was right.


Yesterday I finally bought the batteries for our scales and today I finally put them in and weighed myself (shoes, jeans, belt, phone and all) and discovered that yes!  I have lost weight!  Probably about 3 kilos since I last weighed myself about 6 weeks ago!


Over the 6 months that we lived apart my eating habits got worse and worse.  And I got "too busy" to exercise.  And in that last month where I was cleaning like a madwoman and didn't see the Big Fella at all, I got rather lonely and hit the ice-cream, biscuits and lollies pretty hard.


Turns out that unlike when I first got married and started living with the Big Fella, living with him again is good for my waistline :-D