The only remotely close thing relating to ‘boxing’ today, was baby doing some kind of gymnastic moves and boxing me about from the inside out.
There was no shopping.
There was no cricket.
There was no cinema release.
There wasn’t even, actual boxing (there never is, despite the public holiday name, lol!)
There was only, relaxing.
Ahhh.
And it’s so good to be on the other end of it. Christmas, the busy period, the running around, the shopping, the presents, all of the wild anticipation of the festive day.
And I LOVE Christmas. But it has been a busy time. Christmas lead-up, my baby-related catch-ups, and just general getting ready for baby has left me in a wild and crazy state at this time of year.
So I am happy it is over, and now I get to focus solely on other things.
Baby. Relaxing. Spending cherished time with my family, while relaxing. And just catching up with loved ones and on stuff, before baby arrives.
That is it.
I’m hoping now at 8 months, I get to finally put my feet up. 🙏💖
Today was one of those mad days, as it usually is, the day before a big day.
I surprised myself early on when I made the smart decision (for once in my life) NOT to take on an extra thing that would have made me lose an hour from my day.
I tend to do this stupid thing, and I mentioned this in a post just this week, but I take on too much, and if my day is quiet, I just FIND STUFF to add on so I never actually relax.
I was going to drive down somewhere, but in thinking of the trip, how long it would take, all the other things I still had to do, I decided no, I would make do with the resources I had locally. Even with that hour not lost, I was still running around all day without a break!
But my end-of-day goal kept me going: at 8pm, sit on the couch, watch the Christmas carols, and paint my nails Christmas red.
I was 5 minutes late, but I got there.
The music was playing. The nail polish was drying for baby girl and I. The Christmas lights on the tree were twinkling.
I was slowly unwinding. Even baby could tell I was calming down, as usually when I sit down and relax baby wakes up and starts rolling and jabbing me every which way.
We somehow got onto the topic of baby girl’s list for Santa, and as we were pondering what she would get this year, Hubbie went and said, “I’m going to write my own list.”
I kinda rolled my eyes. He is always after something beer-related, car-related, or clothes/shoes-related. He has been intensely researching a pair of sneakers he wants, so I was totally expecting him to come back with that on the top of his list.
Instead, he came back with this:
I read it, and I burst out crying. Like big, uncontrollable, ugly tears. OMG, it hit me right in the heart.
Maybe it was the Christmas carols in the background. My tiredness from the non-stop day kicking in. But my emotions got the better of me, and I was so moved, so incredibly touched, and I had to admit, it was exactly what was on my wish list too.
He admitted he had thought of some other things to put on his list… 🤣 But after a second thought, realised this is what he really wanted. 🙏
I said to him “maybe this is why we’ve struggled to buy each other presents this year. Because we have what we really want.”
🤰💖
Merry Christmas Eve folks. Hope all your greatest dreams come true. Never stop believing. 💞💞
Night two of Christmas prep and tonight it was baking gingerbread.
The Christmas songs are rife… both from the radio, and the stereo courtesy of our Christmas CDs.
All presents have been bought! Well, except for two things, which really I don’t need to get, one is for me, I’m trying to find a special non-alcoholic wine that I heard about…
Of course, being the person I am, if I find there is a spare moment in the day, my mind immediately creates A JOB to fill the void and have me dashing around like a mad woman. 🙄
But, all else is good. I know my January work roster now, and so far I am working only 5 shifts… and then I am on leave! For a while!
😬💖🤰🥰
So the Christmas festive vibes are here, celebrations are nigh, and all I have to look forward to are really good things.
This is the sound I make now that I’m getting a break.
Ahhh.
Last week was very intense. The weeks leading up to it were too, but then last week I was working 4 days, planning a shin-dig, while looking after home restorations and tradies WHILE working from home, then in the immediate lead-up to the shin-dig had my work Christmas party, a kids birthday, and an engagement party.
All while organising said shin-dig! 😆😆
Now that it’s over, I am exhausted. My body has gone NUP. NUP NUP NUP.
Been tired all day. Baby has resumed kicking… I think baby was worried about my stress levels and concerningly was keeping mum for a while, but all is good again… the kicks are decent, noticeable, and big. Yes my insides are getting a beating and I’m happy about it, thank you very much.
I have spent so much time go-go-going, that as I sit here tonight I’m like…
Ahhh.
This feels good. I might just stay here a while… 🙏💖
All December days usually are, ESPECIALLY weekends.
We already have Christmas get-togethers and Christmas parties in this most festive of months (for me last night at the work Christmas party).
Then there are the people born in December who wanna celebrate their birthday (baby girl’s friend, today at a rock climbing centre).
There are also people who just decide to throw a function at this time of year, because it isn’t busy enough (Hubbie’s work mate who had an engagement tonight).
And then there’s ME, who’s also decided to do a little catch-up tomorrow, because life isn’t busy enough. 🤦♀️😆
But, I remind myself, they are all good things. Sure I can’t catch my breath, but all these festivities are about celebrating, and isn’t that what life is about? Getting together, spending time with loved ones and making beautiful memories.
A lot of things have been troubling me lately, and none more so probably than the bloody barn door.
It’s a super busy time of year, made more so by certain get-togethers, baby prep and planning, and then of course normal life is enough to throw us completely off the loop… and then throw in this most festive time of year, Christmas! 🤦♀️
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. I’m just finding it super hard to dedicate time equally to all the things right now, that’s how full on it is.
However, something big happened today, well it’s big for me, and it’s lifted a load and a half off my chest.
We finally booked someone to do our barn door.
This door has been the bane of my existence since we moved into this house. The room next to ours has always been planned to be the baby room, we just needed a baby, first…
And we also needed a door.
I guess they sold it as a bit of a study room when we bought the house due to its doorless entry, but it’s also a perfect nursery, being right next door to our bedroom, and also being a small, nice size for a baby.
We had actually looked at getting a barn style door for this room years ago, but not only did we not have another baby on the way yet (one big thing to halt the process!) but we also got an astronomical quote for the door, which we thought ‘hell no.’
So it was put off indefinitely… until we fell pregnant.
And then the race for the barn door was on.
We got a couple of quotes, and after today querying Bunnings who could not do a custom door in our height and extra wide size request, it sealed the deal.
We knew who we would be booking.
So that’s it. It’s perhaps a small thing, but just knowing this guy is going to fit us into our schedule so that we can get the door done before baby arrives, is just the greatest gift ever. 🙏🥰
Imagine being overwhelmed with a zillion tasks, little time on hand, and then pregnancy brain as well.
This has been me this past week, on TURBO.
I had the whole day off today, and I had NO IDEA where to turn to first. You know when you have a chance to finally catch up, but your to-do list is so long that you have no idea what to do first?
I was a bit like that, a chook with no head, going around in circles and circles until I managed to find some purpose.
I feel like I don’t have a clear head. I can’t like, manage things in my head, even though I have it all written down… it’s all in there, random things and jobs and bits and pieces jumping out at me and distracting me big time.
But one of my jobs was to finish decorating the house with Christmas, because ever since I posted last week that I had done the bare bones of the tree, well that was it. It was just the tree, there, bare, for days on end.
It was funny because I ended up inspiring other people around me to do their Christmas tree and decos… and meanwhile I was here, with all my Christmas decos and boxes and bags gathering dust in the corner of the room.
So after some other jobs, I started this job… which wasn’t really a job. It was a task, but it was a really fun one. On went Michael Buble, and I wandered around the house putting this here, that there, on and on until seriously, all I have now are just the outdoor lights left!
And now the house is looking super festive. Also, I found it the perfect activity to calm me down and relax me, even with all of the to-dos on my list… it made me feel present in the moment, and for that I am grateful. 🙏
After a truly crazy week, I had something great to look forward to tonight.
KK with my bestest girly pals.
I took this photo before I left. I literally was wrapping and writing cards up until I left this afternoon, and had been organising presents from as recent as yesterday.
It’s been a mad week. Sick, no car, working, and appointments, all on top of each other fighting for my attention, while me with my baby brain went from room to room, feeling lost, needing a constant reminder of things, 55 tabs open in my head and wondering why it is I walked into that room?
But it was all good. It all led to something sweet in the end. 💖 We had a beautiful night, enjoyed a yummy meal, exchanged presents, and it’s true what one of my friends said, it’s never enough time when we are together. 🥰
Just as well one of the gifts tonight was a calendar where we can pencil in monthly catch-ups together… now that’s a great idea! 😁😁🎄🧑🎄
Today wasn’t one of our normal Wednesdays together, because we were on the other side of town tending to a couple of those annoying but necessary jobs.
We missed our usual brunch, even our usual coffee (BOO HOO 1st world problems I know) but our bodies are in such routine we were starving and cranky!
So we managed to find a nice place, um, once we got it all done, and kinda made up for it?
🤦♀️😬🤣🤣
So I was only meant to have ‘one bite’ of that chocolate freckle pancake stack, but of course, it’s really, REALLY hard to hold back when you taste some very delicious melted chocolate, mmmm.
So I only had two bites. Kinda (not really). The coffee was great, I didn’t even need to add a sugar (for all the other sugar!!) 🤣
And yet I have very little photos to show for it. 🤦♀️ (That’s OK, I have my sister the photographer 😉)
We had some fam and friends over for Hubbie’s birthday, and it was fun! It feels like this year we’ve been having heaps of people over to make up for the last couple isolating, non-sociable years.
Having people fill up our house has been great, laughter and voices and music filling the air… and it’s all a good kind of busy, a good kind of noisy, but soon there’ll be another good kind of noisy, that of an additional family member in the house!
I know the way we are now will be absolutely different to how we’ll be in 4 months time, but I embrace it all. I love it now, and I’ll love it then for whole other reasons.
It’s about appreciating, and living in the present moment.
And all of these reflections, from a birthday party. 🙏❤
carcrashgratitude 