#2556 Girly and sweet

I had some recent good updates on my pregnancy and progress today, so I gave myself the allowance…

for indulgence. 😍

I had some mummy-daughter time with my princess today, where we went to the Main Street and I said “you choose where we go!”

She wanted to sit in a cafe for babycino and coffee… and some other things.

I said indulgence, didn’t I?

The girly and sweet theme continued into tonight, with a dinner catch up with my besties. I tell you, nothing fills up my well as much as being around my people, and they definitely fall into that category.

And, following lead from earlier, right after dinner…

More sweet. If you know how ‘good’ I’ve had to be, you would seriously applaud this, trust me. 🤣

It occurred to me at some point today that it was at that exact Pancake Parlour booth, 6 months ago, I was 6 weeks pregnant, seeing my friends for the first time after finding out that fact, and holding onto this big baby secret which was so exciting but still so early to share.

And tonight, 28 weeks later, same Pancake Parlour, same booth, same friends, lots of thanks and gratitude, but stronger love. 🙏❤

It’s all come very nicely full circle, and I can’t help but wonder two things:

Are all these girly and sweet vibes trying to tell me something? A theme for the future perhaps?

Second, seeing as the catch ups have come full circle, I don’t know if I’ll make next months catch up… I think baby will come early!

I’ll just have to host the catch up at my place… with the new addition close by, of course. 🥰

Now that’s sweet. 🤱

#2495 Coffee time with my girl no. 5

Today was one of those great Saturdays where I got a lot done at home, but then a lot done while also out, too.

I had a good sleep in, the sun was shining, and though things weren’t ‘perfect’ (baby girl and Hubbie both a bit under the weather) we all made do, and got on with it.

For me and baby girl, in between all the home stuff and out stuff, I took her to the Main Street for a coffee date.

We actually haven’t done it for a while, just me and her, and so it was really beautiful to head out for a quick 20 or so minutes in between the busy day that was.

It was a bit breezy at times, so she wrapped herself in a throw the cafe provided on their chairs!

Just a little mummy and daughter time to punctuate the day. 🥰😍☕

#2250 Ignoring the to-do trap

Baby girl wanted to surprise me with something.

She wanted to watch a movie with our afternoon coffee/babycino break… and so she put on Mary Poppins.

I settled in with her. We shared chocolate scotch finger biscuits, drank our respective warm drinks, and I fell into the movie quite easily, considering it was one I had watched repeatedly as a child… and still continue to watch and enjoy in a WHOLE other way now.

But as happens now, as an adult, as a parent…

My mind started wandering.

Far out. I thought I had all this time today. I don’t think I’ll get much done now.

How come each Saturday I think I’ll do heaps, and then I do like, the bare minimum?

Where does the time go?

How do people manage this?

And then, to the background of “chim chiminee”s I stopped judging myself, and started observing.

Well actually… baby girl had swimming this morning.

You had to do a grocery run, and fill up the car with petrol too.

Then you decided (YOU DECIDED) to make baby girl scrambled eggs because you wanted to give her a warm meal because she was sniffly.

Then you decided you too wanted a warm meal, so you whipped up your rice.

Then later, you cleaned up. Simple house chores persisted. Tidying, putting things away.

Baby girl wanted to play chasey. And you obliged. You girls ran and ran and ran and ran circuits around the house ’til you could run no more, and then you tickled each other!

And then ran some more!

And then…

Coffee time.

My structured to-do list was thrown out the window, as it seems to happen on most Saturdays.

But I realised I had tended to a much more important one.

It was my nurturing, fun and bonding to-do list that I had successfully gone through.

I nurtured our family with healthy home made meals. ✅

I played games and had fun with baby girl ’til we were exhausted and laughing ourselves silly. ✅

I sat and watched a movie with her, in our Mummy-daughter bonding time. ✅

Tick, tick, tick.

Oftentimes, the old-fashioned ‘routine’ list has gotta go on pause.

More important things are waiting to be accomplished.

#2239 Spoiling our princess…

…With very, very simple things, but still they make me happy.

And it wasn’t even me, or us spoiling her.

It’s…

Overhearing a conversation between baby girl and her big cousin over the fence.

Finding out she had a special babycino-coffee date with her aunty.

Being told about her smorgasbord of pasta bowl with butter served by Baka!

I know when she is with my parents, sis and fam, that she is spoiled, but most of all loved.

And I 💖 that.

#2019 We took the path less travelled

Two quotes come to mind about what I did earlier in the day.

The first is the classic usually attributed to Albert Einstein.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The next is a section of a poem by Robert Frost, and I really encourage you to look it up because it is a beautiful one. But it’s the end section, which goes like this:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Their similarities lie in doing the ‘other,’ in not doing the expected or same thing, and taking a risk I guess in whatever it is you feel bound to choose between.

Very simply, I took a walk with baby girl this morning. It was late morning, close to lunch, but we wandered to our little local cafe, got a cappuccino and babycino, she got a cookie, and instead of the normal, ‘straight’ route home…

I asked “do you wanna walk a different way home?”

It was twisty, it was turny… I had to check the maps on my phone just to see that we would in fact still end up on our street eventually!

But we saw different houses, encountered different birds, and amazingly, even bumped into baby girl’s school teacher who was walking her dog!

It was honestly, a breath of fresh air, and all it took was going the other way.

I guess at this time of frustration and same-old-same-old routine, we can’t expect to feel any different if we are always doing the same things, and following the same paths?

Change it up a little. Even if all that means is, another way home. 💖

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

#2006 The wind of change

I like reading up on my horoscope. And though I take it all with a grain of salt, when my monthly one said that the first half of the Leo month would be, frankly put, CRAP, well I started to see it everywhere.

And hey, don’t blame me, it’s not Leo month’s fault! It’s all in the planets, and their alignment. 🌙☀

It’s THEIR fault. 🤣

But just as the horoscope promised, the second half of the Leo season would end on a super sweet note.

I think the winds of change are already here.

I had a full on start to the day with work, and having planned a park date with baby girl, as soon as I was finished we ran out the door, got some takeaway coffee and babycino, some sweets, and started walking to the beach end of Main Street.

But, other than the pleasant, still, sunny air… another surprise.

Someone had paid the coffee forward. Free drinks for us. 💖

The park was beautiful, and it was so evident the atmospheric change. Unlike other Wintry days, there was barely any wind to be felt.

Interesting too, that 5 years ago on this day, we took a leap of faith, into our own wind of change.

We purchased our house exactly 5 years ago!

So much change. Sea change, the wind has changed leaving Winter slowly bidding a goodbye, and the Leo season seems to be changing for the better too.

I for one am totally up for it.

Photo by Faik Akmd on Pexels.com

#2003 Getting out when it’s hard

This happened last year in lockdown as well.

I went from days when I was all “I am managing, I am surviving, hell I am even a tiny bit killing this ‘work-from-home, home-schooling, balancing all of life while remaining optimistic, hopeful and grateful for the little things in life’ thing.”

And then just as quickly a day would come when I was all ‘I HATE EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING SUCKS.’

Well that was me today. All of the above.

I’ve been sick, so I of course I woke countless times with blocked nose, runny nose, I was hot, and I just kept tossing and turning, tossing and turning, tossing and turning, tossing and turning.

Then there was the neighbour’s dog. God help me this dog. I have no problems with dogs. I have problems with dogs that do not stop barking EVER. This dog has a routine, which makes me think it’s owner has one where they leave the house for exactly the same time every day… the dog will start barking sometime after 8:30am, and will go on for at least 2 hours, uninterrupted.

UNINTERRUPTED.

When I’m up early and taking baby girl to school, well it’s still noise pollution let’s be frank, but it doesn’t affect my time in the house so much.

This morning though, after a sleepless night, and then finally falling asleep, only to then be woken by said annoying dog?

OMG.

And it stopped, of course, with 10 minutes to spare before I had to wake up and get baby girl ready for a school zoom call. 🤦‍♀️

I woke cranky, tired. My nose alternating between blocked and runny. I saw there were 20 new covid cases today. That made me especially sad, thinking of another lockdown birthday.

Everything was sad, everything was bad. Sad, bad, sad, bad.

But after lunch, I decided I had to snap out of it.

Baby girl and I headed down to the Main Street to grab a takeaway coffee and babycino, some treats, and then walked on down to the park.

• 

• 

It was a tiny bit sunny, mostly blowy, but man that wind knocked some sense into me, you know, ruffled me up and wisened me up in the best way.

Guys, if you’re feeling low, don’t be hard on yourself. This time of our lives is like nothing we have ever experienced, and honestly, just give yourself a change of scenery. Go outside. Take a walk, rug up in a jacket, and breathe.

Something as truly simple as that, might be the key to help you get by, another moment, of another day…

And on and on and on, ’til we come out the other end. 💪

#1965 Afternoon ‘yes’ time

It’s been a week of school holidays and I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything for baby girl.

With her. Today, despite, the cold, wind, rain, and 10 degree day temperature, we headed OUT.

You know, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Winter won’t stop me no more. As long as I have my freedom…

… and there’s no lockdowns, I’ll throw on a beanie and a jacket, thank you very much, and LIVE MY LIFE.

Which is what we did.

We kind of just wandered in and out of shops on the Main Street. I snapped a beautiful shot of her reading on the floor of our local bookstore…

And then we headed to get, what else at 3pm?

Yes, that’s right. Babycino and coffee. ☕🥛

But when she spied the pancakes on the kids menu, instead of her usual cookie, I turned into ‘YES’ Mum.

She was sooo rapt.

We had a beautiful afternoon, and nothing pleases me more than seeing her excited and happy face.

Even this $4.50 purchase at the cheap shop, as I like to call it, well it’s kept her busy all night, but lo and behold she got all the little hoops on the bars, a few times already. Parents, you will understand this. 😂

I hope we can have a lot more fun, excited and ‘yes’ moments in the next week too. 💖💖

#1884 My little helper

I am so simple lately.

(You might even say boring, but meh 🤷‍♀️)

I hit a wall after lunchtime, I was freezing cold, and then BANG!

Sleep overwhelmed me.

Well I couldn’t sleep, duh I have a child. But I did lay down on the couch, and baby girl brought me her musical merry-go-round figurine to lull me to sleep, and my water bottle and my phone, all within reach.

Awww.

But balance… she oh-so-quietly complained I had to get up and make my coffee, as well as her BABYCINO.

No rest for the tired here. Just as well we have caffeine. 💪☕

#1853 Coffee time with my girl no. 4

Before all the busy-ness of the day, baby girl and I had our cafe moment this morning on the main street.

You know what made me laugh? As I went to snap our drinks, in the background, I caught her doing this…

Deeply inhaling her babycino.

“Ahhh,” she said.

It cracked me up. 🤣

Kids! 🤷‍♀️