I’m a new traveler in the world of spit up, vomit and poop stories. I’m getting relatively little sleep, especially as Cheeky Monkey develops, becomes more alert and goes through stages of waking at night on an all too frequent basis! Considering all that you would think that I’d be willing to cut myself a bit of slack here and there in relation to high standards/ expectations… or at least be too tired to care. But, unfortunately, you’d be wrong!

Why is it that we (western society) have managed to get ourselves so busy, stressed and obsessed with productive progress that a new mother can feel that if she isn’t the all singing, all dancing model she was pre-baby that she’s somehow less of a woman?! But more importantly, why have I bought into this crazy train of thought?! Continue Reading…

Not sure where I got the energy, but I had a bout of cooking and baking last week! I decided to give making lasagne a go – hubby’s favourite, so he was very pleased about that! The first night it wasn’t the best, I didn’t have enough mince, so I made it again and it worked much better… despite forgetting to get extra pasta sheets and using spaghetti for one layer instead, it was extremely well received!

On Saturday I somehow found the energy to do some baking! Continue Reading…

We had a rather momentous event today in the life of our 4.5 month old son… though I’m not quite sure it was momentous in a good way, not for me at least! I’m talking about the consistency of his poop: that great lake of mustard is beginning to dry out and is being replaced by a lovely pasty clay mud consistency. I did know it was bound to happen sooner or later as he’d started taking such an interest in everything we ate (a bit like a tennis match between plate and mouth really), that we’d obliged by introducing him to solids. Still, I was hoping for later rather than sooner! Continue Reading…

Are organisations with activities that could be enjoyed by young families pricing themselves out of business? Is our society becoming too self-centered to cater for families with young children lest they be a little rowdy and disturb others? There was an interesting article in the SMH discussing Australia’s least child-friendly businesses.

Take the movies for example, it’s not cheap to take a family to the movies – and it’s not getting any cheaper. I know plenty of families that don’t feel that movies are an affordable activity for them… Continue Reading…

The thing is… I really do have a brain… at least I did, until said brain went walk-a-bout… which happened right around the time I was pregnant… at least that’s when I think it happened, I can’t be sure of anything these days – given that said brain has gone walk-a-bout and all that!

I arrived at the Physio today and went to park, only to find that all the parking spaces on one side of the parking were 1/2 hour spots and the parking spaces on the other side were 2 hour spots… so I reversed out of the 1/2 hour parking and got a 2 hour spot instead. Just in case. A good decision as my little man became quite cranky during my appointment and needed to be fed afterwards before we went home. While I was feeding him I was chatting to the receptionist and asked when the spots were made into 1/2 hour parkings, her response? Continue Reading…

Becoming a Mum can be a tough change! Going from focusing on yourself, your learning, your career, etc. to having a little person make huge demands on your time and resources is challenging, it can feel like your life has been turned upside down (at least that’s what I feel some days). But I know that from the time I was little I’ve wanted to be a Mum… so am I being the best Mum that I can be?

It’s hard to know whether the choices you make with your children are the right or wrong ones… I think most parents only have clarity in hindsight (which doesn’t help them at the time the decision needs to be made). But that’s not really what I’m talking about when I ask if you’re being the best Mum you can be… Continue Reading…

The Canberra Hospital, we could do with not seeing or thinking about you for quite a while yet (unless it’s introducing a new life to the world!) A dear friend of mine was seriously shaken earlier in the week when her little boy (almost two) was taken by ambulance from childcare to TCH earlier in the week… Continue Reading…

Gen Y has been toted as one that lives quite substantially in cyber space and is all about instant gratification. So what are the following generations going to be like??? Technology isn’t going anywhere and kids are using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and countless other social networking sites earlier and earlier! Rather than the “she’s not dating until she’s 30″ comment… lately I’ve been hearing the “my kids are never using Facebook”! But do we really think we will be successful in banning our children from social networking sites? Is there an alternative? Continue Reading…

Do you know that feeling? When it doesn’t matter how much or little sleep you’ve had, you just feel shattered… and of course it’s always those days that your little one chooses to wake every 20-40 minutes and scream for you/ their dummy and no amount of waiting results in them actually crying it out (as that insinuates that the crying eventually stops without your intervention!). What do you do to maintain your sanity? Continue Reading…

Parenting is the hardest job you’ll ever have… There is no use pretending otherwise! But it is also the most rewarding!!! There are those melt your heart moments that you will treasure forever… and then there are those hilarious moments that you want to post on Facebook so your friends can share in the hilarity only kids can provide!

Here are some of the hilarious moment we’ve experienced thus far:

1. We have our son in a basinet attached to my side of the bed. One afternoon our newborn was sleeping soundly while hubby and I were sitting on the end of the bed having a D&M conversation… then our son let one rip! Who knew such a large noise could be generated by such a little bottom!!! Needless to say hubby & I were rolling around laughing for quite some time after that!

Continue Reading…